Women’s Football Set to Hit 800 Million Fans by 2030—A Top 5 Global Sport in the Making 🌍⚽💥

Women’s football is set to reach 800 million fans and become a top-five global sport by 2030.

According to a new report from Nielsen Sports and PepsiCo.

Women's football will grow its global fanbase by 38% in the next five years, from 500 million to over 800 million fans by 2030, and become one of the world's top five sports.

This comes after a comprehensive analysis of women's football to date, which offered never-before-shared insights into its accelerating global growth, audience profile and commercial power.

So here are the key findings.

By 2030, 60% of fans will be females, making soccer one of the few sports in which women represent the majority of the audience.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup reached a media engagement audience of 2 billion, while sponsorship deals tripled compared to 2019.

However, with all this positivity, some drawbacks exist, including the fact that just a small fraction of global sponsorship budgets are allocated to women's football.

In the UK, fan interest surged 15% in just two years following the Lionesses’ UEFA EURO 2022 win—a moment that helped lift Women’s Super League visibility to record levels. Brazil, host of the 2027 World Cup, already overindexes on audience engagement but still faces gaps in sponsorship infrastructure, suggesting further upside for brands that move early. 

Switzerland, host of the upcoming UEFA European Women's Championship, has seen its women’s football fanbase increase by 22% in 2024 alone. With the tournament, which kicks off on July 2nd, played on home soil, the nation could become Europe’s next women’s football hotspot.

In Europe, player growth has soared: France (+150%), Spain (+95%), the Netherlands (+25%), and the UK (+24%) have all recorded significant increases since 2019. 

With growing fan bases, surging participation, and expanding media visibility, the message is clear: this sport is rising. For brands, the opportunity is not just to sponsor a game but to help shape a movement. To invest in the future of a sport, be on the side of change and equality in sports. Women's football is now a viable business option.